


Day 14: Brainstorm & Perceptor

by GemmaRose



Series: Lost Light Fest 2018 [14]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Flirting, For Science!, M/M, Transformer Sparklings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-14 05:48:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16487000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: When you don't have enough data to reach a proper conclusion, the obvious solution is to go get more data. When that data requires a fresh-forged sparkling, well...(disclaimer: this fic does not include actual sparklings, just discussions of them)





	Day 14: Brainstorm & Perceptor

“Whatcha doin’?”

The question was accompanied by a bright flicker of Brainstorm’s field against his, and quickly followed by the jet pressing up against his back to look over his shoulder. Perceptor deactivated the screen of his datapad and gave Brainstorm a flat look. “What do you think?” he asked, and his lab partner backed off with a shrug.

“Would I be asking if I knew?”

“Yes.” he said tonelessly, and Brainstorm laughed. On the far end of the workbenches, Junior did too, though she didn’t look up from whatever it was she was tinkering with. Probably another gun.

“But really, I don’t know. Is it something top secret?” Brainstorm’s optic ridges waggled, field full of honest curiosity. Perceptor sighed.

“No, it’s not.” he turned the datapad’s screen back on and turned it so Brainstorm could see. “The medics asked me to go over the sparklings’ records.”

“Medical work?” Brainstorm’s helm cocked slightly to the side, and Perceptor leaned against the edge of his workbench as Brainstorm took the datapad to scroll through it. “Why’re they asking you about this?”

“They’ve been unable to pinpoint the cause of the delayed growth rate, and wanted a fresh set of optics in case they’d overlooked something.” Perceptor shrugged, holding out a hand for his datapad back.

“I hadn’t thought about it, but it _is_ odd that all four of them have grown at the same rate of delay.” Brainstorm mused, handing back the datapad when Perceptor reset his vocaliser impatiently.

“How are you supposed to find anything out with only four data points?” Junior asked from _far_ closer than he’d expected, and Perceptor only barely stopped his combat systems from coming online.

“Junior, don’t startle Percy like that.” Brainstorm chided, reaching down to tap the little femme on the helm.

“Oh, sorry.” she ducked her helm, and Perceptor forced himself to ex-vent deeply.

“Apology accepted.” he said after taking a few nano-kliks to compose himself. “And you are quite correct, Junior. There’s not nearly enough data to determine a cause.”

“Oh, teaching moment!” Brainstorm exclaimed, stooping to grab Junior under the arms and hoist her up to sit on the edge of Perceptor’s workbench, despite squawks of protest from both Perceptor and Junior. “What are the steps of a sound experiment?”

Junior straightened up from her slight sulk, field brightening as she folded her hands in her lap. “First, pick a specific question.”

“In this case?” Brainstorm looked to him.

“What is causing delayed development of sparklings forged on the Lost Light.” he smiled, relaxing slightly against the edge of his workbench again. Brainstorm nodded, and looked back to his apprentice.

“Second, isolate the variables.”

“How’d the medics do on that?” Brainstorm asked, and Perceptor shook his helm.

“Not as well as I would’ve liked.” Anode had provided statistics for the photonic crystals and sentio metallico used, but none of it was outside the norm for the size of the resultant mechs.

“And you gotta get your variables isolated before you can make a hypothesis or do data collection.” Junior nodded imperiously.

“Correctamundo.” Brainstorm beamed, optics squinting up and field practically glowing with pride. “But the medics already got the data collected, so what’s the next step Percy has to do once he’s got his hypothesis?”

“Uhhh, get more data?” Junior frowned.

“Unlikely.” Perceptor shook his helm. “All the conjunx on board who have expressed interest in forging a sparkling have already done so.”

“Well, you know what they say.” Brainstorm’s field flicked out against his own, a suggestive crackle of charge dancing where they met. “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”

Perceptor cycled his optics and audials, then cycled his audials again. “Excuse me?”

“Y’know, you and me.” Brainstorm stepped into his personal space and tapped a finger to his forehelm. “Simpatico.”

“Would Mags even allow that?” Junior asked, and Perceptor had to manually throttle his fans down to keep them from going embarrassingly fast as his processor worked over what Brainstorm’s suggestion would entail.

“What?” his voice came out staticky, and he got the distinct impression Brainstorm was smirking at him behind that blasted facemask.

“I mean, there’s probably a regulation right? About how many mad scientists you can have in a room?” she swung her pedes and tilted her helm at him, the picture of innocence. “I mean, you’d be the one taking them as an apprentice right?”

He reset his vocaliser to clear the static from it before speaking again. “I can assure you, Junior, no sparkling of mine would be half as reckless a scientist as Brainstorm.”

“Oh?” Brainstom’s field crackled against his own again, full of excitement and playfulness. The jet stepped in close again, hooking a finger into Perceptor’s collar faring and tugging him in until his mask was right up against Perceptor’s audial, their chestplates pressed together. “We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”


End file.
